Self-leveling picture frame hanger



April 21, 1953 A. w. BARRY SELF-LEVELING PICTURE FRAME HANGER Filed Feb. 24, 1949 INVEN TOR. fir/rw? 71615209 Y.

Irff.

Patented Apr. 21, 1953 U N l TED PATE NT Fl CE.

2,635,840 I SELF-LEVELING PICTURE FRAME, HANGER Arthur William Barry, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application February 24, 1949, Serial No. 78,117

1 Claim.

My invention relates to devices for hanging pictures, mirrors and the like on walls and has for its principal object to provide a simple, practical and inexpensive two-piece hanger which may be readily applied to the wall and picture frame and the construction of the two parts being such as to enable the suspended frame to automatically assume and maintain true horizontal and vertical positions.

Further objects of my invention are to generally improve upon and simplify the existing forms of picture hangers and to construct the base or bracket member of the hanger so that it has ample bearing on the wall to effectively resist the strains produced by the weight of the picture or mirror suspended from said bracket.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the wall bracket member of the hanger,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the wall bracket,

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the hook member which is mounted on the picture frame,

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the hook,

Fig. 5 is a plan view showing the assembled hanger in position on the wall and picture frame,

Fig. 6 is a vertical section taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a vertical section taken on the line 7- 'l of Fig. 3,

Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken through the center of a modified form of the wall bracket.

Referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing which illustrates a preferred embodiment of my invention, In designates a substantially rectangular metal plate and projecting forwardly from the end portions of the lower edge of said plate are short horizontal arms H. Projecting inwardly toward each other from the ends of said arms are short horizontal fingers l2.

Formed integral with the upper central edge of plate 10 is a short forwardly and downwardly projecting lip it, provided with an aperture for the reception of a small screw or nail M and formed in plate just below lip 53 is an aperture l for reception of the screw or nail which passes through the aperture in lip It. The apertures in lip 13 and plate lil which receive nail M are disposed so that said nail occupies an angular position of approximately thirty degrees relative to a horizontal plane.

Depending from the center of plate H) is a small plate [6 centrally perforated for the reception of a nail or screw 11. Thus plate Ill provides the bracket with an ample bearing on the wall and the two nails or screws 14 and I! very firmly anchor the bracket to the wall.

The hook portion of the hanger includes a vertically disposed substantially rectangular plate I8 provided with a centrally arranged aperture for the reception of the screw or nail H which fastens the hook to the picture frame and to increase the anchorage of the hook on said frame, small prongs are, by means of a suitable punch, pressed rearwardly from the plate and driven into the frame when the hook is applied thereto.

Projecting forwardly from the lower edge of plate i8 is an integral horizontally disposed plate 2! and depending from the central portion of the outer edge thereof is a short tapered finger 22. The width of this finger 22 is slightly less than the distance between arms II.

After the bracket and hook have been properly secured to the wall and frame respectively, said frame is manipulated so as to position finger 22 between arms I! and thus plate ill of said hook will lie flat upon said arms and the fingers 12 thereby holding the frame in true horizontal position, and should the frame be struck and tilted as, for instance, during wall and picture dusting operations, said frame will by gravity resume its normal horizontal position.

In the modification illustrated in Fig. 8, a transverse rib 25 is formed on the upper portion of plate 13 and below lip l3 which rib bears against the wall on which the bracket is mounted and thereby slightly inclines said plate vertically and lowers fingers l2, so that finger 22 of the hook tends to move outward until said finger 22 contacts said fingers l2.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a self-leveling picture frame hanger which is simple in structure, inexpensive of manufacture and very effective in performing the functions for which it is intended. Minor changes in the size, form and construction of the various parts of my improved picture frame hanger may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is set forth in the appended claim.

I claim as my invention:

A self-leveling picture frame hanger, comprising a vertically disposed plate, horizontally disposed L-shaped members projecting forwardly 3 from the ends of the lower edge of said plate, a lip extending downwardly and outwardly from the top central portion of said plate, said lip and plate being perforated for reception of a nail, a perforated lip depending from the central portion of said plate, an L-shaped plate adapted to be attached to the picture to be suspended, a fastening device passing through the center of said L-shaped plate, prongs projecting rear- Wardly from the end portions of said plate to assist in anchoring the L-shaped plate to the picture to which it is applied, and a finger depending from the outer edge of the lower member of said L-shaped plate, the width of which finger is slightly less than the distance between the horizontally disposed L-shaped members of said first mentioned plate.

ARTHUR WILLIAM BARRY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 15 Number Name Date Green Sept. 1, 1891 Hall Nov. 27, 1906 Dietz Sept. 16, 1913 Hickerson Nov. 3, 1914 Butler June 11, 1918 Girard et al Dec. 31, 1929 Yurkovitch Dec. 21, 1937 Moeller July 8, 1941 Richards Dec. 12, 1944 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain May 31, 1915 Great Britain Dec. 21, 1897 Great Britain Apr. 28, 1927 

